


angled approach

by arsenicjay



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Bathrooms, Canon Compliant, Gen, Mentors, Volleyball
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-01
Updated: 2015-01-01
Packaged: 2018-03-04 18:18:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3080258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arsenicjay/pseuds/arsenicjay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>It starts with a prickly feeling on the back of his neck that tells him he’s being watched. </em>
</p><p>Or, Akaashi unwittingly finds himself an admirer in the form of one slightly awkward Karasuno setter.</p>
            </blockquote>





	angled approach

**Author's Note:**

> Because Kageyama is a thousand levels of volleyball idiot and Akaashi is probably a pretty damn decent setter. I like to think that they got talking during the Summer Training camp at least at some point. This also may or may not have been inspired by headcanons of Kageyama having a setter crush on Akaashi (hints of AkaKage if you squint real hard).

It starts with a prickly feeling on the back of his neck that tells him he’s being watched, and Akaashi surreptitiously glances around to see who it might be.

He thinks he sees a shadow dart away, but when he turns to look for where he saw movement, there’s nothing there. Bokuto yells at him to pay attention and Akaashi snaps back to the game, arms half raised and ready to toss the ball rapidly dropping down towards him.

The moment the ball hits his fingers, that prickly feeling comes back and Akaashi has to resist the urge to scratch as he tosses the ball to Bokuto. It’s an easy spike and Bokuto goes off like a firecracker, loud and overly excited about a single point as per the standard.

Akaashi takes the distraction as an opportunity to look around again, but there’s no sign of anyone watching him and he wonders if he’s just imagining things.

\---

The last practice of the day finishes, and the teams retreat to the mess hall, joking and laughing. The prickly feeling doesn’t return and Akaashi breathes a sigh of relief, glad to escape the attention. It’s not until after they finish cleaning up in the kitchen and the teams settle down for the night in their own respective rooms that the uneasy feeling strikes again when Akaashi is walking down the corridor alone after being one of the last to use the baths.

This time around, he’s fairly certain that he is also being followed because he can hear faint footsteps that start and stop when he does. He whirls around, determined to catch whoever it is; if it’s Bokuto, he’s going to be getting a very stern scolding soon, Akaashi thinks grimly–

There’s still nobody there.

The corridor is empty, mostly dark although faintly lit up at intervals by the flickering lights of the share house. Akaashi squints into the darkness, but there are no discernible shapes. Nothing at all to suggest that anyone had been following him.

It’s frankly starting to unnerve him, and he ends up glancing over his shoulder every few minutes as he makes his way back to the sleeping rooms.

When he gets inside, he silently counts the number of snoring futons and notes that nobody from his team is missing. He narrows his eyes.

Must be someone from the other teams then. But who on earth would follow him?

Kuroo? Maybe put up to a prank by Bokuto?

No, it’s not likely. Akaashi would’ve caught wind of it already, if that were the case. Bokuto and Kuroo are notoriously bad at keeping things to themselves when they’re cooking up some new devious plan.

Well whoever it is, they haven’t followed him into this room. As he crawls under his quilt, Akaashi can’t help but rub the back of his neck anyway, as if he could dispel the earlier prickly feeling with just his fingers.

He forgets the issue as soon as his head hits the pillow, and drifts into an easy sleep.

\---

The next day is typical, Karasuno somehow managing to lose most of their matches yet again and Akaashi sits with the rest of the Fukurodani team as they watch the other school do their flying falls across the court. Bokuto is wildly cheering them on, no hint of malice or smugness in his voice and from the other end, the Nekoma team starts catcalling when the Karasuno libero’s pants accidently slip down a tad.

No harm done though, when the libero (Nishinoya, was it? Akaashi isn’t too great with names to be honest) straightens, hikes his pants up with a grin and gives a two-fingered salute to the whooping teams.

That prickly feeling hasn’t returned all day, and Akaashi is in a good mood when he heads to the baths later that night. It’s easier to bath when Bokuto isn’t splashing up the water after all, and undoubtedly getting Komi and Konoha dragged into his shenanigans.

Or even worse, when Bokuto and Kuroo corner Sawamura with enormous shit-eating grins for some hushed up captains meeting that Akaashi is pretty sure involves nothing more than comparing the lengths of their dicks.

Metaphorically and literally probably. It’s hard to tell.

But when he glances in the baths, there’s already one basket filled with haphazardly folded clothes. Orange and black peek out from underneath the towel and Akaashi realises there must be one of the Karasuno team members in there.

Maybe Sawamura, hoping to escape Bokuto and Kuroo’s clutches.

He strips off anyway, folding his clothes neatly and placing them in his own basket. It takes him a moment of worried searching to relocate his small hand towel, and then he’s sliding open the door to the main bathroom and-

Oh. Well it’s not Sawamura, that’s for sure, Akaashi thinks as bright blue eyes stare at him in surprise. Sitting in the bath, steam curling around his exposed shoulders was Karasuno’s first year setter - Kageyama Tobio, was it?

“Ah, excuse me,” Akaashi says, as he steps through and sets his towel down in an unoccupied bucket.

The moment he turns his back to start rinsing himself off, the prickly feeling starts up again and he realises with a jolt of surprise that it must’ve been Kageyama watching him since yesterday. It still makes the skin on the back of his neck crawl though, and he has to consciously stop himself from turning around to ask the other boy to please stop it.

Instead, he grits his teeth and finishes washing, before finally turning around and stepping into the bath. He doesn’t miss Kageyama’s wide eyed stare and subtle shift away as he eases into the water with a wrinkle to his nose.

These baths are always a little too hot for his liking when he first gets in.

Akaashi lets the silence lengthen as he slowly gets used to the water’s temperature, carefully watching out of the corner of his eye as Kageyama relaxes in increments before casually asking, “So, can I ask why you’ve been watching me?”

Almost immediately, Kageyama stiffens, eyes darting to the side as his mouth opens and shuts a number of times before any sound comes out.

“I– uh, well– I just. I mean, that is– ” Kageyama stammers, hands rising to the surface of the water and sending little ripples across the bath.

“Calm down, I’m not mad,” Akaashi tells him, somewhat amused by the reaction. “I just wanted to know why. It’s a little creepy.”

Kageyama glowers, a shade of red due more to the embarrassment of being caught than from the heat of the bath. “I just wanted to study how you play,” he mutters. Then with an afterthought, he adds, “Sorry.”

 _Ah,_ Akaashi thinks. He’d suspected as much. Kageyama looked like someone who took his training quite seriously, if judging by the way he put that extra force into his flying falls had any merit.

“What about it in particular?” Akaashi asks, leaning back against the tiled wall. It’s pleasantly warm against the back of his head.

“Um. Well– just how, uh,” Kageyama breaks off, looking frustrated at himself and Akaashi has to swallow his own smile. Ah to be that young again.

Well to be fair, he’s only a year older than Kageyama. Maybe closer to two years at a stretch. But here, Kageyama looks hilariously young as he struggles to communicate his point across with a mutinous expression. Maybe it’s the way his hair is pushed back and plastered to the sides of his face. Or the way he hesitantly looks at Akaashi like he’s afraid that he’ll somehow meet his disapproval and Akaashi will refuse to discuss volleyball strategies with him.

“Bokuto-san is like Hinata,” Kageyama ends up blurting out. He looks relieved to have finally made some sense, and then it’s like a veritable waterfall, the words spill out of him like he’d been planning an entire speech for weeks. “Kind of like Hinata,” he amends. “I mean Hinata is a dumbass– not that I’m saying anything about Bokuto-san! But ah, the way Hinata did that move that Bokuto-san taught him was– it was, good, and so I was wondering, how often you practice with Bokuto-san? No wait, actually, how do you practice? And what do you do when Bokuto-san gets discouraged or wants to try something new– ”

The words flood over Akaashi in an overwhelming amount of information and eventually, he has to hold up his hand and Kageyama abruptly stops, his eyes wide.

“Sorry, but that’s too fast for me to process all at once,” Akaashi tells him truthfully. “I’m happy to help, just– talk slower.”

And Kageyama does, repeating each of his questions but this time allowing Akaashi to ponder before answering him. It’s mostly questions about how Akaashi tosses to someone like Bokuto, and he understands that Kageyama just wants to know how to toss better to Hinata – albeit asking in a rather roundabout way. The absolute seriousness on Kageyama’s face amuses him, and Akaashi starts to realise that Kageyama’s clear enthusiasm for the sport rivals Bokuto on some bizarre level.

Then the conversation turns to setting, and Akaashi relaxes into the conversation a little easier now that they’ve moved into his own field of knowledge. Kageyama winds down too, the tense set to his shoulders dissipating when he scoots over closer to Akaashi as he tries to demonstrate a particular move with a few splashing gestures.

They finish their bath late into the night, both wobbly and thoroughly red after spending too long in the hot water.

Dressing is a slow affair, with Kageyama still trying to demonstrate the same tossing move he’d tried explaining about ten minutes ago, although this time with one arm caught in his sleeve. It takes a bit of Akaashi’s help to untangle him, and in the end, Kageyama manages to get free _and_ his point across, much to the younger setter’s delight.

They part outside the bathroom, with Karasuno’s sleeping rooms being down the hall opposite to Fukurodani’s and Akaashi is about to say good night when Kageyama quickly bows in front of him. He utters a loud _thank you_ and Akaashi barely catches the briefest hint of what he suspects might be “Akaashi-senp-” before a faint ruddiness flushes Kageyama’s cheekbones and he cuts himself off with a muttered, “Akaashi-san.”

He doesn’t need to look at the barely contained expression of satisfaction on Kageyama’s face to know that he’s probably just made Kageyama’s night by willingly discussing volleyball tactics and techniques with him for over an hour.

 _So easily pleased_ , Akaashi thinks a little fondly. Then, _it must be nice to care that much about volleyball_.

Akaashi knows that he doesn’t share the same brand of enthusiasm Bokuto and Hinata might for the sport, with their wild energy and loud exclamations, but Kageyama’s quiet passion he thinks he might understand.

Thinks it might echo his own sentiments, buried in the forgotten places of his mind where he hasn’t bothered looking for a while, or at least until now.

So he can’t quite help it when he drops a hand on Kageyama’s head and ruffles his still damp hair with a small quirk to his lips. Kageyama’s eyes widen in surprise, but he doesn’t voice the question Akaashi can see forming on his tongue and Akaashi is kind enough not to bring it up.

Instead, he bids Kageyama a formal goodnight and tells him to rest properly, hearing Kageyama’s stumbling “Ah– yes! I will!” behind him as he walks off, smile still playing across his lips.

**Author's Note:**

> I drew the basis for Kageyama’s attitude to Akaashi as a mix between how he approached Kenma (somewhat overbearing) and how he approaches his senior team members (respectful but inquisitive) - but let's be honest here, Kageyama will forever be an endearingly awkward blueberry. I'm just glad I finally got to write something with Akaashi. 
> 
> Comments and constructive criticism always appreciated.


End file.
